{"id":16531,"date":"2018-10-11T12:48:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T18:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/?p=16531"},"modified":"2018-10-18T10:20:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T16:20:13","slug":"city-of-boulder-ballot-issue-2c-oil-and-gas-pollution-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/?p=16531","title":{"rendered":"City of Boulder Ballot Issue 2C: Oil and Gas Pollution Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: This article is the first in a series of 2018 ballot issue analyses written for the <\/em>Blue Line by author Richard Valenty<\/a>. You can find coverage of the other 2018 ballot issues here<\/a>. <\/em>Ed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Issue 2C, if passed, would target \u201cexternalities,\u201d basically negative physical or environmental impacts, of potential future oil and gas production within City of Boulder limits. It would impose a new oil and gas pollution tax of \u201cup to $6.90 per barrel of oil,\u201d and \u201cup to $0.88 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas.\u201d The revenue is intended to mitigate or offset costs associated with oil and gas exploration within the city, but 2C would also allow any revenue beyond the oil and gas costs to be used in the city\u2019s General Fund.<\/p>\n

Beyond 2C, there is a long history of governments imposing taxes or fees on extractive industries that can help pay for damage associated with the industrial activity. Perhaps the best known is the state \u201cseverance tax,\u201d and in Colorado some of the severance tax money will be used for local impact grants or natural resource programs. In short, 2C might be a unique type of ballot measure, but the general idea is by no means an \u201conly in Boulder\u201d concept. The tax rates included in 2C are based on a percentage of the \u201csocial cost,\u201d which includes considerations of health impacts, climate change, and environmental damage from oil and gas exploration, according to the city memo on 2C.<\/p>\n

Readers might wonder, \u201cwhere is all of this oil and gas development happening in Boulder?\u201d The initial answer is \u201cit\u2019s not,\u201d since the city memo for 2C states plainly that \u201cThere are currently no active wells in the city.\u201d But the future\u2019s uncertain, and 2C could make sure there is a city tax in place in case oil or gas exploration comes to town, and this is not necessarily as out of the realm of possibility as it might seem.<\/p>\n

In fact, there is an area just northeast of town that was known as the \u201cBoulder Oil Field,\u201d and it was productive for a number of years. There are active natural gas operations not that far away in Boulder and Weld counties, and there is interest for more activity, including on Boulder County Open Space property. For perspective, click this link and enter \u201cBoulder\u201d into the search box to see the location of active or abandoned wells in the area.<\/p>\n

Also, this year\u2019s state Amendment 74 could impose penalties on local governments should they enact ordinances to block oil or gas exploration within their jurisdiction. Even if A-74 doesn\u2019t pass, Republican legislators in the General Assembly have regularly been sponsoring bills with generally similar intent to A-74 for the past few years, and while they haven\u2019t passed yet, they might someday.<\/p>\n

In short, Boulder has some oil history, there are active gas operations and the potential for more in the county, and the state might someday penalize Boulder for trying to prohibit operations. Issue 2C would not block oil and gas exploration, but could make companies consider if it\u2019s worth operating here, and would make sure the city collects some money for mitigation if operations commence.<\/p>\n

Issue 2C Pros and Cons<\/h2>\n

Pro<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Industrial activity like oil and gas exploration can damage land or impact infrastructure, and the 2C tax would help Boulder mitigate potential damages.<\/li>\n
  • Even if there is no drilling in Boulder at present, having a tax in place in case of future activity is a prudent move.<\/li>\n
  • A tax might dissuade oil and gas companies from operating here.<\/li>\n
  • There are state laws in place that hold oil and gas producers responsible for issues such as negligence or spills, so 2C money would not be the only remedy available in case of problems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Con<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • There is no drilling in Boulder at present, and it doesn\u2019t seem likely in the foreseeable future, so why pass a tax?<\/li>\n
    • A tax might dissuade oil and gas companies from operating here, costing economic impact or jobs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Note: This article is the first in a series of 2018 ballot issue analyses written for the Blue Line by author Richard Valenty. You can find coverage of the other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1219,"featured_media":16533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12,1186,243,284,194],"class_list":["post-16531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-election","tag-election-2018","tag-natural-gas","tag-oil-production","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16531"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16620,"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16531\/revisions\/16620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}